Blending cleanliness and managerial skills<\/p>\n
Riyadi Suparno
\nThe Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, 58, the newly installed chairman of the
\nAceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Executing Agency,
\nhas only one problem with living in Aceh: he does not enjoy his
\nfood.<\/p>\n
It all started when he visited a refugee camp in Banda Aceh on
\nthe very first day of his visit to Aceh after being installed as
\nthe chairman of the reconstruction agency where he met a family
\nof three: Eva, her husband and their son.<\/p>\n
In making small talk, Kuntoro asked Eva the mundane question
\nof whether she and her family had eaten lunch, to which she
\nreplied, \"not yet.\"<\/p>\n
From the refugee camp, Kuntoro was taken to Pendopo hall, from
\nwhere the distribution of aid and other needs for displaced
\npeople is directed.<\/p>\n
\"At Pendopo, lunch was waiting for us. Delicious Acehnese
\ndishes were on the table. Then I wondered whether Eva and her
\nfamily had eaten lunch yet, whether the boy had been given
\nanything to eat.<\/p>\n
\"Since then, Eva and her family are on my mind whenever I eat
\na meal,\" he said.<\/p>\n
When asked what the experience meant to him as chairman of the
\nreconstruction agency, Kuntoro said, \"I will try my best to
\nensure that no money we manage is misused at the expense of
\npeople like Eva and her family.\"<\/p>\n
Kuntoro is not new to Aceh or the tsunami. As founder and
\nchairman of the Global Rescue Network, Kuntoro helped a team that
\nwas among the first to arrive in Meulaboh, one of most devastated
\ntowns along the western coast of Aceh.<\/p>\n
Global Rescue Network volunteers are from various backgrounds,
\nincluding doctors, medics, rescuers, radio operators and
\nenvironmental experts.<\/p>\n
Kuntoro is also an executive of the Indonesia Rescue Network
\n(IndoRescue), which facilitates the construction of houses and
\ndrilled wells in Lamno, West Aceh.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Kuntoro's appointment as the head of the
\nreconstruction agency is not without opposition. A number of
\nAcehnese have objected to his appointment, saying they would
\nrather see an Acehnese lead the reconstruction agency.<\/p>\n
He appeared relaxed -- and even joked -- when asked about
\nAcehnese opposition. Kuntoro treated the matter lightly when
\nasked about his appointment, saying: \"I don't know. Ask those who
\nselected me. Well, maybe it's because I'm bald.\"<\/p>\n
His selection is possibly because of his clean track record
\nthroughout his career with state-owned enterprises and in
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
In addition, he is also a capable manager, who transformed the
\nnear-bankrupt PT Timah state tin mining company into not only a
\nprofitable entity but one of the world's most efficient tin
\nmining firms. Because of this, Timah then successfully listed its
\nshares on the Jakarta and London stock exchanges.<\/p>\n
Timah is often referred to as a fine example of corporate
\nrestructuring, particularly of restructuring and privatization of
\nstate enterprises. And Kuntoro is inseparable from Timah's
\nsuccessful restructuring.<\/p>\n
After serving as president of PT Timah since 1989 until 1994,
\nKuntoro was appointed director general of mines at the Ministry
\nof Mines and Energy.<\/p>\n
Unlike at Timah, where his star rose, Kuntoro met a major test
\nas a bureaucrat during his stint as director general of mines. It
\nwas during this time that the infamous Busang gold mining scam
\nbroke -- in which Canadian Bre X's claim that had discovered huge
\ngold deposits in Busang, East Kalimantan, turned out to be false.<\/p>\n
Kuntoro was dragged willy-nilly into the abyss of Busang.
\nBecause of the case, his relations with his superior, then
\nminister of mines and energy IB Sudjana, soured. Kuntoro was then
\nkicked out of the ministry and in 1997 was named deputy chairman
\nof the Investment Coordinating Board.<\/p>\n
In March 1998, Kuntoro was surprisingly selected as the
\nminister of mines and energy in Soeharto's seventh -- and last --
\nDevelopment Cabinet, which lasted only three months until May 22,
\n1998, when the Cabinet was dissolved after Soeharto stepped down
\nfollowing massive prodemocracy protests and unrest.<\/p>\n
BJ Habibie, who replaced Soeharto as president, retained
\nKuntoro as minister of mines and energy in his Development and
\nReform Cabinet, which lasted about one-and-a-half years until
\nOct. 26, 1999.<\/p>\n
During his tenure as minister, no big achievements were
\nrecorded. This might be because of the uncertain situation at the
\ntime when he was minister, both under Soeharto and Habibie.
\nNevertheless, he managed to complete the drafting of two
\nimportant bills: the electricity bill and the oil and gas bill.<\/p>\n
After retiring from the Cabinet, in 2000, Kuntoro was again
\nentrusted by then president Abdurrahman Wahid with the daunting
\ntask of leading the debt-ridden state electricity company, PLN.<\/p>\n
As PLN president, Kuntoro faced a mammoth job, namely handling
\nthe company's huge debt and renegotiating agreements with
\nindependent power producers (IPPs) that charged PLN exorbitant
\nprices for electricity they produced and sold to the state
\nelectricity company.<\/p>\n
Kuntoro managed to force IPPs to renegotiate the lop-sided
\nagreements, but failed to turn PLN into an as efficient firm as
\nhe had made Timah. To be fair, PLN's problems were so huge that
\nit would have taken a miracle to transform it from a practically
\nbankrupt company into a profitable one in one year.<\/p>\n
After retiring from PLN in 2001, Kuntoro returned to his alma
\nmater, the Bandung Institute of Technology, where he got his
\nindustrial engineering degree as well as his doctorate degree on
\nengineering-decision science. He obtained his master's degree on
\nindustrial and mechanical engineering from Stanford University,
\nthe United States.<\/p>\n
After the long hiatus since his stint at PLN, Kuntoro has
\nagain caught the media's attention with his appointment as
\nchairman of the reconstruction agency.<\/p>\n
With the new appointment, Kuntoro will have to move his family
\nto Aceh and live there for the next four years, and forgo all the
\nluxury he enjoyed in Jakarta and Bandung -- unless his position
\nin the reconstruction agency is taken by somebody else.<\/p>\n
\"Fortunately, I don't play golf. I do jog for exercise. I'm
\nlooking forward to jogging on Aceh's beautiful beaches,\" he said.<\/p>",
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